Kazakhstan is ready to restart quarantine restrictions

As different regions of the country report new COVID-19 cases, the Interagency Commission has approved quarantine restrictions that might be applied if the situation worsens.

According to new rules, health officials in those regions in the green and yellow zones should make everything needed to prevent the infection from spreading. For example, the commission has recommended wearing face masks and keeping social distancing in such regions. No restrictions for businesses are Implied though.

«If a region falls into the red zone, we will put a group of restrictive measures. At the first stage, if we have 25-50 COVID-19 patients out of 100,000 of the population, we are going to oblige people to wear face masks in closed spaces and public transportation with no restrictions for businesses,» said Ms. Azhar Giniyat, minister of health, during a meeting with other members of the cabinet.

In the second stage, when the number of patients is more than 50, the government is going to oblige businesses to use the Ashyq mobile app. Moreover, all businesses will be required to cut their capacity by 50%.

Universities and schools will be obliged to send at least 30% of their teachers to work from home.

«What specific measure we are going to apply in a red zone will depend on the ability of businesses and people to obey sanitary recommendations. Unfortunately, here in the capital city of Nur-Sultan, we can see how many events have occurred in closed spaces with no face masks and social distancing. Of course, this would easily cause fast spreading of the disease,» she said.

The official has called for entrepreneurs to make sure that the services they provide are safe in terms of sanitary rules.